We believe that the grades on a studentís transcript should provide
concise and meaningful information about the studentís achievements. Discussions
taking place over the last two years suggest that the current grading scheme
is not completely satisfactory. To increase the durability of any agreed-upon
grading scheme, and to improve the information content of student transcripts,
we propose that, beginning with courses taken in the Fall 2005 semester,
the Registrar be instructed to modify the transcript of every student as
follows.

For each course in which a student receives a letter grade, the transcript
will add to the information that is now presented, 1) the mean numerical
grade of all students; and 2) the number of students who received letter
grades. A typical entry on a transcript might then take the form

Index code

Course title

Student grade

Course mean

Number of students

01:160:127

Impact of Chemistry

B+ (3.5)

3.1

73

In this example the transcript shows that the student received an above-average
grade in a medium-sized class. The letter grade is shown because this is
current practice. For ease of interpretation, we would prefer that numerical
student grades be added as has been done parenthetically in our example.
If the transcript were to be presented without the conversion, then a chart
converting letters to numbers would be required. Standard deviations of
the mean or a percentile corresponding to the studentís grade could also
be given, but here we run the risk of overkill.

Our proposal would add substantive, useful information to the transcript
at virtually no administrative cost. It would help Rutgers undergraduates
by giving them more complete feedback regarding their performance, and
by making it easier for external readers to recognize outstanding performance,
particularly in courses or disciplines where average grades are low. Implementation
of this proposal would be relatively easy because all the information required
is already available electronically to the registrar.

Although aggregated grades have been stable at Rutgers, New Brunswick
for some years (see attached table), we believe that our proposal would
help mitigate any future grade inflation or deflation. As a final note,
we believe that the proposed method for recording grades will express to
the larger public Rutgersí commitment to fair and informative student assessment.